Rating: 
Summary: Excellent feel good movie
Review: I liked this movie a lot. Kevin Spacey was pretty much perfect in this roll as Eugene, a 7th grade social studies teacher who is just a little socially awkward (can you say tennis shoes and a bad suit?) and has a rock-solid, boring, daily routine that keeps him going. I have to say, just a few minutes in and seeing Spacey being a brilliant and inspiring junior high teacher made me wish I could have had a teacher even close to that good sometime through school - he was superb. Haley Joel Osment plays Trevor, the precocious 12 year old who takes his social studies assignment ("Make the world a better place") a little more seriously than most and starts by bringing a bum into his home. Helen Hunt is Arlene, Trevor's alcoholic mom who is a little over her head with her son, two sleazy jobs and a drunken boyfriend who drops by every once in a while to claim he's sober and then beat her up. The movie is definitely a feel good movie, the sap comes out quite a bit in spots, but the characters were so interesting and well acted, it didn't matter if it was a little unbeliveable.
Rating: 
Summary: Best film in 2000
Review: Well, the Oscar comittee proved itself again: besides Zimmer didn't get the win for the hands-down best music, the best film for the season didn't get even a single nomination. Anyway, I think you need to watch this one. It may even change your view of life, and then a few other people's for the common good. Paul
Rating: 
Summary: Avoid this movie like a molded bag of year-old doughnuts!
Review: This movie belongs IN THE TRASH along with every other movie that manipulates the audience. A previous review I shared concerning "Unbreakable" being a manipulative piece of rotted humus. Pay it Forward is not too far behind in a long line of movies that try to pull and prod it's audience into crying, blubbering and pouring out their heart over scenes where lead characters either end up dead for no good reason at all or end up doing something horrible and awful to others. I was so mad after seeing this movie I literally demanded my money back from the theatre, which in turn the theatre reluctantly gave it back to me after I threatened them with a full write up of my movie experience with their establishment to their corporate headquarters. I'll tell you this, that will get any manager opening their til to give your money back! It was great to see that vindication was mine when the theatre mysteriously stopped showing the movie a week after it's release-HA! Pay it Forward is total hogwash. I can understand why some insecure movie buff would find this trash to be a work of art because this movie takes a person to a place that doesn't exist and never will! If a marketing genius wants to sell a film like this why don't they start off by saying this story will never happen in real life, it's just for fun-show that in the previews-it's all a joke everybody! I would've been more happy with that! The entertainment value of this film would have meant something. Unfortunately, this film tries to take itself too seriously in almost every scene, offering layer upon layer of melodrama until you're either left with balling your brains out or becoming stark raving mad over having just paid $8 of your hard earned money and 2 hours of your time you will never see again sitting in a theatre with nothing to do but look at the equivalent of a blank screen. Steer clear of this folks and if you must watch this, wait for it to come out on STARZ or HBO in a few months.
Rating:
Summary: Don't Forget to Pay It Forward
Review: WATCH THIS MOVIE! This is one of the best movies I've seen in a long, long time... My cousin and I decided to challenge our boredom and watch a movie the other day. I left my house with high hopes of ridding myself of redundancy but never expected that one movie could change my whole perception of an all-too-corrupt world. The title of this brilliant artwork is Pay it Forward. Although it features a list of talented actors who without-a-doubt add to the movie's success, the poise of this movie lies in the plot. A quick summary would never be enough to pay tribute to the movie's excellence, but carries out the message nonetheless. A local social studies teacher, Mr. Simonet, seems to have his life in perfect order. This perfection, his facade, is put to the test when he assigns his class a project: to think of one way to better our world. One of his students, Trevor, takes the assignment seriously and comes up with a beautifully sorted utopian idea. He presents his idea to the class and the teacher is impressed but not convinced of it's effectiveness. Pay it Forward is easy to understand. When someone does something for you that you could not achieve yourself, you must do something good for three other people. Then it's their turn to "pay it forward." I think the message in this movie was beyond motivational. What I love most about this movie is that Trevor's idea is possible to achieve. This practice could start off as a mere chain but can eventually turn into an unconscious good-for-all event. People might even start doing good deeds because it comes from the heart, rather than to complete "their part of the deal" like the original concept of Pay it Forward implies. Overall, the movie is realistic and the concept is admirable. We can only hope that this movie's script will be acted out in our everyday lives.
Rating:
Summary: Exceptional
Review: This was an exceptionally good movie. I thought that the ending was significant, yet shocking. Many people disliked the ending, because they thought that it was pointless, which I disagree with. This movie can be a little corny at times, but unless you are very cynical, I think you will enjoy this movie.
Rating:
Summary: 5 stars cannot touch it
Review: Beautiful, well acted movie with a wonderful story line. Superb acting from one of the most talented youngsters in Hollywood, Osmont, and brillant performances by Hunt and Spacey. This story is a must see for anyone who has ever dreamed, or loved, or wished, or hoped for something more than they had. Proves the world can change, ONE CHILD can change it!!!
Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly moving.
Review: Pay It Forward Score: 74/100 Oh how this film surprised me. I thought it would be corny, clunky trash (which it is very briefly in a couple of scenes) but it was mostly a very good cinematic experience, not quite a masterpiece that the cast might of come up with, but Pay It Forward is still a perfectly watchable drama. Young Trevor McKinney (Haley Joel Osment), troubled by his mother's (Helen Hunt) alcoholism and fears of his abusive but absent father, is caught up by an intriguing assignment from his new social studies teacher, Mr. Simonet (Kevin Spacey). The assignment: think of something to change the world and put it into action. Trevor conjures the notion of paying a favour not back, but forward--repaying good deeds not with payback, but with new good deeds done to three new people. Trevor's efforts to make good on his idea bring a revolution not only in the lives of himself, his mother and his physically and emotionally scarred teacher, but in those of an ever-widening circle of people completely unknown to him. The film starts awkwardly, but in the middle, it becomes absorbing and intriguing as Trevor's idea thrusts itself through the plot, and in the end, your left reaching for a million hankies at the same time. An all-star cast deliver stunning performances, Spacey's turn as the loveable but burned teacher is stunning, his performance burns in memory, just as his character's scars burn on his face. Helen Hunt and Haley Joel Osment are both perfectly cast as two troubled family members going through a rough patch, and I really liked the way the script started with the present, went back to the past and then strang itself together nicely. Also, the music, which I could never forget, done by Thomas Newman (American Beauty) is stunning, and earns Pay It Forward points and puts it as one of the front-runner's for top music of the year. The mournful look on Osment's face sometimes tires, and about 15 minutes could've been cut off the running time, but none-the-less, this is still a brutal, honest, real and emotionally moving piece of film, well worth your time.
Rating:
Summary: A touching movie
Review: Careful! There are some spoilers in here. The movie is about a great idea, about a world where life is worth living, and yet not an utopian world, at least not much. The message that the movie wants to convey is clear - It is a good thing(tm) to do good stuff. The message that it actually conveys is: be a good person and you'll die. And with this I cannot agree. Also the last five minutes could easily be cut and the movie would perhaps be even greater.
Rating:
Summary: STUUUUUPID MOVIE!
Review: This movie would get 0 stars if I could help it. First off it starts out really slow. I actually fell asleep halfway through. Now how in the world is a little kid going to start the next big CRAZE. "Pay it Forward" Very silly idea! When everyone was crying at the end of the movie! I was laughing cause it was SO DUMB! This movie made me want to run out, take in a bum and save the world. Pay this Movie No mind!
Rating:
Summary: Hollywood establisment trashes Pay It Forward
Review: Lower middle class and homeless people can't really be morally articulate? Frank Capra would have done it with more balance and less schmaltz. The ending in was stolen from "Field of Dreams". Such insider savagery has obviously kept this film off the VHS and DVD market from the more appreciative public. Release it to the public domain if they find it so disgusting. Let the public decide like they did for "It's a Wonderful Life". Please don't delete or alter the ending to satisfy the insider critics. Many children I know have found the film inspirational. In this circumstance, I would rather trust their opinion.
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